Speculation on Lee / Utley being moved - O's interested?

[orioles942]

Yes to Utley because he can DH too, and play 2nd base and wont cost any major prospect.

No to Lee cause of his contract and he just isnt throwing that hard topping out around 91 mph. I bet the Phillies are dying to get rid of him at this point with his contract and the woes to Halladay.

Niether will cost great prospects, they just want to rid themselves of thier deals.

The Phillies are a pretty bad team.

Wont happen anyway, cause it envolves $$$. We all know how cheap Pete the Greek is.

[McNulty]

Utley is up this year. Lee is under club control through 2016 with the team option. It is actually not a dump in any way. He alone fetches Bundy plus Gausman.

I'm not so sure about that. They put Lee on the August waivers last year and he made it all the way to the Dodgers before they had to pull him back.

[mcinww0]

I honestly don't think either would cost major prospects if the phils are out of it by the trade dealine, theyve both got too much money left on their deals. I wouldn't be interesting in Lee and there's no chance DD would be, but Utley is very intriguing. Still plays very good defense, and can actually hit. I'm not sure what we'd have to give up for him but I'd be willing to part with pretty much anyone outside our top 5 prospects.

[LayzieDES]

Maybe. But you don't trade Bundy. And No, they should not have traded Trevor Bauer. And he is no Bundy. Strasburg was an injured prospect too.

Yeah this. You cannot undervalue a pitcher of Bundy's caliber. His trade value may be lower now but his upside is still sky high.

It also makes zero sense to trade a 20 year old, who was given rest only for precautionary reasons, when his value is indeed lower now because those precautionary measures are still reason for concern. Dylan has plenty of time to heal up & resume tearing up the minors. He'll be back in Baltimore before you know it. Again, there are very very few players I would trade him for.

[joew]

Unless the Philly's pay half of Lee's salary and both Utley and Lee are playing at the VERY TOP of their game, no team in baseball is going to offer even one top 25 prospect.

Rays got Myers but had to give up Shields for 2 years at half of Lee's salary and had to give up Wade Davis. Even Utley paying at his top will barely net you a good pitcher with upside such as Davis. Ie. giving up Matsuz for 2 months of Utley and having to eat $3 million of salary.

Don't expect the O's to be in the conversation. I think Jake Peavy for a Zach Britton may be more reasonable.

[OriolesFaithful]

I'd really want Utley. With him, wow our lineup would be pretty good, especially if Reimold could get going.

Problem is, he'd probably be a one year rental and the thought of giving up Bundy or Gausman for a rental would not sit well with me.

[DrungoHazewood]

I'd really want Utley. With him, wow our lineup would be pretty good, especially if Reimold could get going.

Problem is, he'd probably be a one year rental and the thought of giving up Bundy or Gausman for a rental would not sit well with me.

It would be a complete non-starter for me.

[LayzieDES]

I'd really want Utley. With him, wow our lineup would be pretty good, especially if Reimold could get going.

Problem is, he'd probably be a one year rental and the thought of giving up Bundy or Gausman for a rental would not sit well with me.

For the right price he would be a great addition to the lineup. Of course the potential for having $25 million dollars worth of 2nd basemen on the DL is very high with him.

[Saintbird]

I'd really want Utley. With him, wow our lineup would be pretty good, especially if Reimold could get going.

Problem is, he'd probably be a one year rental and the thought of giving up Bundy or Gausman for a rental would not sit well with me.

Coupled with the fact the Schoop did not look too far away in the WBC this year...

[Tx Oriole]

I've seen some speculation that the Phils may look to move some of their huge contracts this trade deadline similar to what the Red Sox did last year. Theories are that Lee & Utley could both be had primarily for salary relief and B+/A- prospects. Lee would have over 60M left on his contract and Utley is a free agent at the end of the year with 7 - 8M left on his to finish the year.

Lee and Utley would fill the two biggest holes for the O's (#1 starter & 2B) and both are passionate about winning. Angelos is apparently willing to take on salary (although it would be shocking for him to approve a trade for a pitcher with that much money owed to him...).

Whether or not Angelos will do

it aside, would you want Lee & Utley if the O's could figure out how to get the deal done without parting with Gausman or Bundy?

Not sure i would.

[orioles942]

The thing is with Cliff Lee is that he is still an OK pitcher with diminishing velocity and owed 25 million for 13, 14, 15 and a 12.5 Million buyout in 2016 and is 34, the Phils would take Ryan Flaherty to rid themselves of that deal.

Utley, a rental will have much more value to a team... might cost you a solid prospect even for a rental( not a Bundy of Schoop or anything) but, this is possible.

[luismatos4prez]

Cliff Lee has a limited no-trade clause. He can block trades to 21 teams. We're cool right now though, right?

I think Utley has something similar.

[waroriole]

Not only would I not consider Bundy or Gausman, but Schoop is a deal breaker for me too.

[waroriole]

The thing is with Cliff Lee is that he is still an OK pitcher with diminishing velocity and owed 25 million for 13, 14, 15 and a 12.5 Million buyout in 2016 and is 34, the Phils would take Ryan Flaherty to rid themselves of that deal.

Utley, a rental will have much more value to a team... might cost you a solid prospect even for a rental( not a Bundy of Schoop or anything) but, this is possible.

Amaro is really stupid, and desperate to save his job. He won't admit how awful his moves have been, and get rid of Lee for nothing.

[AlbionHero]

Theres no way it would require a top 20 prospect to dump a massive salary like that. Just look at the Red Sox trade last year... they got mostly scrubs just to unload those contracts. If Amaro asked for Bundy or Gausman for Lee, I'd hope that DD would just laugh at him and put down the phone.

The kinda prospect they Phillies can realistically get for Lee depends on how much salary a team is willing to pick up. If they're willing to take on the entire salary, it probably wouldn't cost more than some Single A player with low upside.

And for the person who brought up Grienke... entirely different situation. He was a guy that was being paid about 4 million dollars the rest of the season, so there was no long term financial commitment. He was a much more attractive player to teams because of that. Lee just has a mammoth contract so you're stuck with that guy for like 3 more years being paid 24 mil a year or whatever it is, so nobody would give up much of anything to be given the opportunity to have that guy on their payroll.